Coroner give Irish public a warning as man drowns in the Liffey due to prank

A coroner has highlighted the dangers of drunken swimming after the drowning of a young man who jumped into Dublin's River Liffey as a stunt to impress his friends on a night out in the city centre.

Vincent Lynch, 24, from Bailieborough, County Cavan, took off his shirt and jumped into the Liffey in the early hours of February 2nd. His friend, David Rooney, then jumped in after him in an effort to rescue him, but he was forced out of the water when his body went into shock due to the cold water.

Lynch’s body was later taken from the water by members of the Garda (Irish Police) Water Unit. A postmortem revealed that he had imbibed a high level of alcohol.

In a report quoted in The Irish Times Garda Michael Mullen of the Bridewell Garda station told the inquest that in some places it was the done thing to jump into rivers.